Will the Bush rate freeze apply to your adjustable-rate mortgage?

The first thing to understand about the Bush "Hope Now" rate freeze is that it's wasn't the Bush administration's idea. It was the mortgage industry's idea. John Taylor, president & CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, said, "The administration's aggressive focus on this problem should dispel once and for all the notion that the borrower is to blame. This is not a homeowner bailout, this is a bailout for failed regulatory oversight.

"Infectious greed and malfeasance by lending institutions is the overwhelming culprit, not consumer misbehavior," he said.

If your ARM expired before Jan. 1, 2008, you're not eligible for the government's relaxed qualifications for refinancing out of an ARM mortgage. If you've gone 30 days late on a payment, the program doesn't help you. And the program won't provide for anyone to get their ARM mortgage changed into a fixed rate without refinancing. That means many millions of dollars in closing costs for mortgage bankers, brokers, appraisers (though the rules may allow some to refi without an appraisal, as many banks already do) and others.